EEPOirr ON THE PENNATULIDA 



COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 



OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. JULY, 1881. 



BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.D., D.SC, M.A., FELLOW OF 



ST. John's college, Cambridge, beyer professor of zoology 



IN OWEN'S college ; AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 



[Head before the Society, December 20, 1881.] 



The specimens of Peunatulida or Sea-pens obtained in the Oban 

 dredging excui'sion, and placed in our hands for description, include 

 examples of three species, Pcnnatula pltosjjhon^i, Vircjularia mirahilis, 

 and FuniciiUna quadraiigitlaris, belongmg to three distinct genera and 

 even families. The following table, abridged from the scheme of 

 classitication proposed by Kolliker in his Report on the Peunatulida 

 collected by H. M. S. Challenger,* shows the relative positions and 

 affinities of the three genera: — 



Order. — Penxatulida. 

 Section I. — Pcnnatulece : polypes on leaves. 

 Family 1. Pteroeidida. 

 Family 2. Pennatulidce. 



Genus, Pennatula. 

 Family 3. Virgidaridce. 



Genus, Virgularia. 

 Family 4. Stylaiulida. 

 Sectiox II. — SpicatcB : polypes sessile. 

 Family 1. Funiculinidce. 



Genus, Funiculina. 

 Section III. — Eenillece : rachis expanded in form of a leaf. 

 Section IV. — Veretilleee : polj^es arranged radially, not bilaterally. 

 Of the three genera with which we are concerned Fiaiicidina is the 

 rarest, and in many ways the most interesting, and we therefore 

 propose to deal with it first, reserving Pennatula and Virgularia for 

 subsequent consideration. An additional reason for adopting this course 

 is afforded by the fact that while the internal structure of Pennatula and 

 Virgularia has been described and figured by various writers, that of 

 Funiculina is known to us only through the very careful and elaborate 

 description given by Kolliker in his monograph on the Peunatulida ;f 

 and this description, though very full, is yet incomplete in some points 

 on which the opportunity of examining perfect specimens, either living 

 or recently preserved, has enabled us to throw some light. 



We have devoted special attention to the figures illustrating this 

 report, all of which have either been drawn direct fiom the object with 

 the aid of a camera, or else, where— as in Plate I. Fig. 3 — it was 



* Kolliker: " Zoology of Challenger Expedition,'' Part II., 1680, pp. 33-35. 

 + Kolliker : " Anatomisch-systematische Beschreibung der .\lcyouarien ; 

 Erste Abtheilung : Die Pennatuliden," 1872, pp. 250-261. 



